Friday, September 27, 2013

Blasting
Cap Discovered – A
blasting cap was discovered along with an M60 fuse lighter in a passenger’s
checked bag at the Manhattan Regional Airport (MHK) in Kansas.

Loaded Gun Discovered at HOU

33 Firearms
Discovered This Week
– Of the 33 firearms, 30 were loaded and 13 had rounds chambered. See a
complete list and more photos at the bottom of this post.

Bag
Catches Fire in Atlantic City - This
week at Atlantic City (ACY) a traveler’s checked bag blew open with threefoot
high flames and smoke. The cause? A large leaking can of hairspray was ignited
by the spark of a lighter when the bag was loaded onto the rollers. No one was
injured.

Artfully
Concealed Prohibited Items – It’s
important to examine your bags prior to traveling to ensure no prohibited items
are inside. If a prohibited item is discovered in your bag or on your body, you
could be cited and quite possibly arrested by local law enforcement. Here are a
few examples from this week where prohibited items were found by our officers
in strange places.

A
16-inch sword was found concealed inside the cane of a traveler at Chicago
O’Hare (ORD).

A 2-foot
sword was detected concealed in the cane of a Long Beach (LGB) passenger.

Stun
Guns –Nine stun
guns were discovered this week in carry-on bags around the nation. Two were
discovered at Atlanta (ATL), and one was discovered at each of the following
airports: Baltimore (BWI), Phoenix-Mesa (AZA), Jacksonville (JAX), Las
Vegas (LAS), San Diego (SAN), Springfield-Branson (SGF), and Tulsa (TUL).

Inert
Ordnance and Grenades etc.
- We continue to find inert hand grenades and other weaponry on a weekly basis.
Please keep in mind that if an item looks like a realistic bomb, grenade, mine,
etc., it is prohibited - real or not. When these items are found at a
checkpoint or in checked baggage, they can cause significant delays in
checkpoint screening. While they may be novelty items, you cannot bring them on
a plane. Read
here on why inert items cause problems.

A large
plastic bag containing two inert smoke grenades and a sixounce inert
container of police mace was discovered in checked baggage at Denver (DEN).

*In
order to provide a timely weekly update, I compile my data from a preliminary
report. The year-end numbers will vary slightly (increase) from what I report
in the weekly updates. However, any monthly, midyear, or end-of-year numbers
TSA provides on this blog or elsewhere will not be estimates.

Unfortunately
these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about
these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are
finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the
throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up
with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. The passenger can face a
penalty as high as $7,500.00. This is a friendly reminder to please
leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual
does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer
to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items.

uh, that "pick axe" is a slag tool for welding, relatively harmless as it's not sharp in any way. It's used to knock off the slag from a weld so you can see the integrity. Kinda odd to bring on board anyway.

Let me start by first saying the TSA is changing all the scanners to the newer machine where nobody sees the images of bodies. Second you all focus on the small stupid things on this blog if I Was going to take that welding tool and hit you in the head would you say it still wasn't a threat. And lastly before you make comments about the policies of the TSA do your homework . They are not letting knives of any size thru the checkpoints. That policy never started.... People like you on the blog really make me wonder if you would rather take a plane that wasn't checked over a plane that was knowing that the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day. It is so easy to get complacent and forget the reason why they are there in the first place .... Do your research....

Why are you still using the full body scanners when, week after week, you never list anything dangerous that requires them to be found? These machines are slow, expensive, invasive (even with AIT, everyone with a prosthetic or ostomy gets singled out) and obviously ineffective. Scrap them!

"People like you on the blog really make me wonder if you would rather take a plane that wasn't checked over a plane that was knowing that the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day."

I would pay extra to take the second flight. Not a single item listed since Curtis started these sad little fear-mongering "police blotter" posts was carried by a person who intended to cause any harm to their flight. Right, Curtis?

brian mccarthy said...Let me start by first saying the TSA is changing all the scanners to the newer machine where nobody sees the images of bodies. Second you all focus on the small stupid things on this blog if I Was going to take that welding tool and hit you in the head would you say it still wasn't a threat. And lastly before you make comments about the policies of the TSA do your homework . They are not letting knives of any size thru the checkpoints. That policy never started.... People like you on the blog really make me wonder if you would rather take a plane that wasn't checked over a plane that was knowing that the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day. It is so easy to get complacent and forget the reason why they are there in the first place .... Do your research....

September 29, 2013 at 1:12 PM................Spoken like a true TSA employee.

As long as TSA refuses to secure the sterile area by not screening airport workers who can and do bring anything they like into the sterile area there is NO SECURITY.

What difference does it make if someone is hit on the head by the welding tool on a plane versus on the street? It's still going to cause damage. It's not a threat to the plane and nobody is taking over a plane these days with a welding tool, pocket knife, or box cutter. People carry these items on the street daily, but is anybody afraid on the street?

Billions of dollars are spent each year on airport security and all they ever catch are forgetful people who leave a gun or knife in their bag. Those same items were caught in the years prior to 2001 for a lot less money. How many of these people were charged with terrorism related crimes?

"Let me start by first saying the TSA is changing all the scanners to the newer machine where nobody sees the images of bodies."

Wrong. The millimeter wave scannerslook under travelers' clothes and have the capability of creating images of naked bodies. Does TSA look at them? I don't know, but neither do you.

"...if I Was going to take that welding tool and hit you in the head would you say it still wasn't a threat."

If I were to stab you in the eye with my stiletto heels or whack you in the head with my laptop computer, would you call shoes and personal electronics weapons and insist that they be banned from planes? I could also hit you in the head with a fire extinguisher, something from the galley, or simply my fists! OMG, my fists! I can't take those on the plane because Brian will be scared of what I might do with them!

"...People like you on the blog really make me wonder if you would rather take a plane that wasn't checked over a plane that was knowing that the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day."

Knowing that TSA does not do a good job (70% of guns passing undetected, employees stealing from luggage, checked baggage not fully scanned, employees passing drugs through the checkpoint, employees calling in bomb threats, etc.), I prefer to trust in locked cockpit doors and my fellow passengers. It's passengers that stopped the underwear bomber--not TSA. Also, TSA has yet to confiscate my dangerous stilettos or dangerous laptop (or my dangerous fists!), so there is plenty of dangerous stuff getting on the plane already.

I find it interesting that my 2 inch long nail clipper could be considered more dangerous than my 5 inch long "Zebra F-301" ball point pen. Both are really pretty scary. I was not allowed to carry the nail clipper on the plane.Thanks for protecting us.

brian mccarthy said...Let me start by first saying the TSA is changing all the scanners to the newer machine where nobody sees the images of bodies.

So they claim, yes. Of course, they have been caught LYING about the machine sbefore, so....

Second you all focus on the small stupid things on this blog if I Was going to take that welding tool and hit you in the head would you say it still wasn't a threat.

I can hit you on the head with a laptop. Should they ban laptops?I can stab you in the ace with a pencil. Should they ban pencils?I can bludgeon you with a rolled-up newspaper. Should they ban newspapers?I can hit you with my fists. Should the ban fists?

And lastly before you make comments about the policies of the TSA do your homework . They are not letting knives of any size thru the checkpoints.

...But I can get a meal at a restaurant in the 'secure' area of the airport, and pocket one of their knives.

the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day.

As I pointed out, lots and lots of items "could possibly kill people". The fact that the TSA finds some of them in no way justifies their violations of the Constitutions.

Hey "Brian McCarthy," please admit you are a TSA screener when insulting the American public.

Bob, fix the incorrect "pick axe" caption. Don't let this be another TSA falsehood, like the camping saw you wrongly claimed was a garotte, and despite a dozen commenters correcting you, you never bothered to fix.

"I would pay extra to take the second flight. Not a single item listed since Curtis started these sad little fear-mongering "police blotter" posts was carried by a person who intended to cause any harm to their flight. Right, Curtis?"

How do you know this? Can you prove it? If they intended to do harm, seems to me that the TSA prevented that.

Lets comment on the pick axe,why is it prohibited?I would think anybodys head if hit with it would do some damage, including yours!What does relativly harmless mean?*******I think the phrase they were looking for was From Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; "Mostly harmless.

"... It is so easy to get complacent and forget the reason why they are there in the first place .... Do your research...."

I have done my research. The TSA is not there to find stuff that might be used to kill one or two passengers. If that was the case they wouldn't give you knives or forks anywhere past the security gate.

Anonymous said...RB--airport employees must undergo an FBI fingerprint background check and security threat assessment in order to get into the restricted areas. We see you're still not doing your research.September 30, 2013 at 4:22 PM

----------------------------------

That would explain why no TSA or other airport employees have been arrested this year.

RB--airport employees must undergo an FBI fingerprint background check and security threat assessment in order to get into the restricted areas. We see you're still not doing your research.************This only determines past behavior, not future. Ronald Regan used the phrase "trust, but verify". Searching airport employees when they enter and exit secure areas is verification.

"...People like you on the blog really make me wonder if you would rather take a plane that wasn't checked over a plane that was knowing that the TSA does a great job and finds prohibited items that could possibly kill people every day."**********The airplane is not secure. As we have seen an LAX baggage handler was able to detonate multiple dry ice bombs inside secure areas. Which also means one could put on an airplane.

I have done my research. The TSA is not there to find stuff that might be used to kill one or two passengers. If that was the case they wouldn't give you knives or forks anywhere past the security gate.